RapidRaw 1.5.9- The Latest Update (July 2026)

There is a brand new update for RapidRaw! Version 1.5.9 has now been released and it has a feature that I have been asking for at last. Here is what is new in RapidRaw 1.5.9.

“New Features”

Manual clone and heal inpainting – At long last, the too l have been waiting for! While AI is fantastic for many tasks, there are specific scenarios where you just need pixel-perfect, algorithmic manual control that operates at your image’s full resolution. To give you that control, they have implemented dedicated Clone and Heal tools. They work beautifully: simply set your source point, and you can seamlessly heal blemishes or copy exact pixels over to your target area.

Refinied AI inpainting – It is great to see that this has been improved.

Improved shadows and black slider – Thankfully this has been addressed, and I look forward to testing this fully.

HDR merge improvements – This version introduces robust deghosting and auto-alignment capabilities for merging HDR brackets. This means that even if your handheld source images aren’t perfectly aligned, the final merged result will remain sharp and free of distracting ghost edges. Additionally, this update resolves several colour space issues during the HDR merge process that were previously causing merged files to appear drastically underexposed

“Core Improvements”

• Performance: Improved thumbnail loading speeds by utilizing native file transfers and updating the core rendering engines for better overall performance and stability.
• Workflow: Added “Open With” external editor support, allowing you to easily hand off images to other applications.
• RAW Handling: Implemented a smart fallback mechanism that loads embedded JPEG previews for undecodable or currently unsupported RAW files.
• Local Contrast Tweaking: Clarity & Structure’s intensity is now stronger.
• Bug Fixes:
  • Fixed an issue where copying adjustments directly from the filmstrip wasn’t behaving correctly.
  • Resolved AI model and LUT download issues affecting Android users.
  • Inpainting now also works on rotated or flipped images.
  • Squashed several Windows-specific bugs, including an issue with offscreen windows and folder export errors.
• Under the Hood: Bumped various system dependencies to keep everything secure and up-to-date.

“Conclusion”

I look forward to trying out this new update in great depth. Look out this week as I have a portrait workshop planned for a large group of people, and I will be using RapidRaw 1.5.9 in some of those edits to really test out the software’s new features.

The addition of the clone tool is something I have been hoping for, for a long time, and it is nice to see here at last! What features would you like to see implemented in future versions of RapidRaw?

Watch out for a video in the next few days on my YouTube channel showing off the new features.

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My name is Mark G Adams and I run Photography By Mark G Adams. I am a professional photographer from South Wales, shooting weddings, events and portraits as well as running meets and workshops. For fun I like to shoot landscapes, wildlife and occasionally do street photography. Enjoy my website as I share my knowledge learned over decades of working and having fun in photography – This Is My Personal Website
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